Medical procedures may be performed by a practitioner through direct contact and interface with a target site as well as through remote access to the target site via medical devices, such as endoscopes, which are designed to extend the practitioner's reach. By extending the practitioner's reach these devices allow some medical procedures, previously performed only through invasive procedures, to be performed through non-invasive methodologies. One drawback of these extension devices and remote access methodologies is that a practitioner may not be able to watch the procedure being performed and, thus, may not be able to visually determine if the procedure he is performing has been properly completed.
For instance, when an endoscope is being used for the ligation of a polyp deep within a patient's body, the distal end of the endoscope, where the procedure is actually carried out, is not directly visible to the practitioner. Nevertheless, despite this handicap, the practitioner must first maneuver the distal end of the endoscope to the targeted polyp and then, in less sophisticated systems, must perform the procedure relying solely on his or her own tactile abilities. In one endoscopic ligation unit this process would involve pulling on a single string emerging from the proximal end of the endoscope until one of the several bands, around which the string was wrapped at its distal end, was deployed. In this unit, if the string is pulled too far, more than one band may be deployed and, if the string is not pulled far enough, a band may not be deployed at all. During its use, once the practitioner thought that a single band was deployed, but without positive confirmation, the practitioner would relocate the distal end of the endoscope to deploy another band or if the procedure was completed, retract the endoscope from the patient.
If the ligation bands had become entangled during the procedure they could remain on the distal end of the ligation unit and provide notice to the practitioner, upon the endoscope's removal, that the procedure was not properly performed. Conversely, if too many bands were deployed during the procedure or if they were deployed in the wrong areas, it would be difficult if not impossible for the practitioner to immediately discern, based on viewing the distal end of the ligation unit, that the bands had been improperly deployed from the endoscope.